Imbro v. Forest River Inc

CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Indiana
DecidedJuly 22, 2022
Docket3:20-cv-00925
StatusUnknown

This text of Imbro v. Forest River Inc (Imbro v. Forest River Inc) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Indiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Imbro v. Forest River Inc, (N.D. Ind. 2022).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF INDIANA SOUTH BEND DIVISION

NANCY “SUE” IMBRO,

Plaintiff,

v. CASE NO. 3:20-CV-925-JD-MGG

FOREST RIVER, INC., and MAPLETREE TRANSPORTATION, INC.

Defendants.

OPINION AND ORDER This case arises in response to a dispute between Plaintiff Nancy “Sue” Imbro (“Imbro”) and her former employer, Defendant Mapletree Transportation, Inc. (“Mapletree”), and its parent company, Defendant Forest River, Inc. (“Forest River”). Imbro was formerly the General Manager (“GM”) at Mapletree. During that time, she reported directly to Pete Liegl (“Liegl”), who serves concurrently as the CEO and President of both Mapletree and Forest River. Imbro worked as GM for more than four years before being removed from the position. She was never reassigned to a new position and now alleges she was constructively discharged. Imbro alleges her discharge from Mapletree was an act of both sex and age discrimination in violation of her rights under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”)1, as amended, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967

1 Codified at 42 U.S.C. § 2000 et seq. (“ADEA”)2. Additionally, she alleges that while employed at Mapletree she was given an inferior wage and bonuses to comparable male employees at both corporations in

violation of the Equal Pay Act3. Mapletree, however, states they removed Imbro for failure to meet the expectations of the position. Discovery in this case has been ongoing since the adoption of the parties’ discovery plan on February 11, 2021. The only discovery that remains are the depositions of Liegl; Forest River’s Corporate Controller, Mr. Leyes; and Forest River’s former Human Resources Director, Mr. Rowe. However, these depositions will not

occur until after the Court has resolved the Motion to Compel filed by Imbro on October 29, 2021, which is pending and ripe before the Court. Related to the instant Motion to Compel are the parties’ motions to seal, which are also ripe before the Court: Plaintiff’s Motions to Seal her brief in support of Motion to Compel and various documents [DE 39, DE 41], and Defendants’ Motion to Seal the same documents. [DE

48]. As the outcome of Plaintiff’s Motion to Compel impacts the scope of the three remaining depositions, the Court also vacated the discovery deadline until the instant motions were decided. For the reasons discussed below, the parties’ motions to seal are granted, and Imbro’s Motion to Compel is granted in part and denied in part.

2 Codified at 29 U.S.C. § 621 et seq. 3 Codified at 29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq. I. Relevant Background Mapletree and Forest River have a close relationship. Forest River is a recreational vehicle (“RV”) manufacturer. Mapletree is an RV transportation company

and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Forest River, and the two companies share Liegl as CEO and President. Mapletree’s offices are in the same complex as some of Forest River’s divisions. While Mapletree consists of 30 full-time employees and 350 contractors, Forest River employs tens of thousands of people. Mapletree’s employees are overseen by a single GM—the position previously held by Imbro—who directly

reports to Liegl. Forest River employs thirty-one GMs, who report to eight Group GMs. These eight Group GMs then directly report to Liegl. When hiring and onboarding employees, Mapletree works with Forest River’s human resources and provides Forest River’s code of ethics and employee handbook to newly-hired employees. Moreover, Mapletree only transports RVs on behalf of Forest

River. Additionally, both Imbro’s immediate predecessor and successor as GM worked concurrently as managers at Forest River. Through this business relationship, Mapletree also pays Forest River a monthly administrative fee. Imbro worked at Mapletree as GM from October 2017 to February 2020. Imbro was offered the position of Mapletree GM prior to that, but she turned it down. At that

time, Mapletree oversaw a subsidiary company, Shipshe Trailers, that performed welding and fabricating services. Imbro did not have a manufacturing background and did not feel she was knowledgeable enough to supervise. After Mapletree no longer oversaw Shipshe Trailers, Imbro was willing to accept the role. In her capacity as GM at Mapletree, Imbro oversaw its approximately 30 employees and 350 contractors. While GM, Imbro was directly supervised by Liegl. Any

actions she took in promoting or hiring employees had to be approved by Liegl. As her supervisor, Liegl would also conduct Imbro’s performance reviews. Accordingly, Liegl spoke with Imbro about her performance on one occasion in 2019. In doing so, he compared the financial performance of Mapletree with the performance of divisions of Forest River. Several months after this 2019 performance review with Liegl, Imbro was removed as GM. She was replaced by Damon Gleim shortly thereafter. At the time of

her removal, Imbro was 55 years old. During discovery, Defendants reported that Gleim is 46 years old but did not specify his birthdate. Following her discharge, Imbro filed the instant action. Per the proposed discovery plan that was adopted, Imbro propounded her First Set of Interrogatories and First Request for Production of Documents (First “RFPs”) on March 19, 2021. In these

RFPs, Imbro sought information regarding her own personnel file, internal or administrative complaints of discrimination in other employees’ files, and the disciplinary and compensation info of Forest River’s GMs. The Defendants served their responses on June 4, 2021, pursuant to the parties’ agreed extensions of time. The parties disputed both the content of the responses and the scope of the inquiries. The

parties conferred, and Imbro agreed to tailor her interrogatories more narrowly. Despite the adjustments, the parties failed to come to a full agreement on the First RFPs. On October 29, 2021, Defendants served their second supplemental initial disclosures and supplemental interrogatory answers. While these answered some of Imbro’s questions regarding her replacement, Gleim, his date of birth was absent. Additionally, although Forest River provided the names, duties, supervisors, and

length of service of its own GMs, it did not include compensation information. Other information which was absent included: 1) information relating to potential witnesses and Imbro’s replacement, 2) information and documents relating to complaints of sex or age discrimination made by employees against Defendants, 3) information and personnel documents for potential comparators, and 4) information and documents regarding the compensation of Defendant’s GMs.

Although the parties met and conferred before the Defendants served their supplemental disclosures and responses, Imbro does not cite any further meetings regarding the instant dispute in her L.R. 37-1 Certification.4 Despite this, Imbro still contends the parties are at an impasse and moves the court to compel the production of: 1) employment and contact information for potential witnesses, 2) information

regarding any employees who have filed any administrative or judicial complaints based on sex or age discrimination, or for a violation of the Equal Pay Act, between January 1, 2016, and December 31, 2020, 3) personnel files for Forest River GMs who were disciplined for performance issues between January 1, 2016, and December 31,

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